Brace Yourself

TWO goals in a 3-0 win over Cheltenham Town have done little to distract Reuben Reid from what matters most to him this season: good team performances, and promotion.

Enjoying arguably his most successful season as a player, the Pilgrims’ top scorer has now netted 19 times – 17 in the league – after yet again playing a starring role in an Argyle away win.

Reuben scored a brace in the victory over the Robins; the first coming after an excellent, piercing run from Carl McHugh, and the second beginning with an excellent cross-field ball from Tareiq Holmes-Dennis and ending with Reid's shot finding the net after hitting Robins defender Matt Taylor.

As one would expect, Reid will once again take the plaudits, but he stressed that the assisting work of his teammates is every bit as important, and will continue to be as the team contest for a place in the top seven alongside a number of other teams.

“What you find in football is that obviously the goal-scorer gets their name on the score-sheet,” said Reuben, “but as a team and me as a person, we know that there is more involved than that.

“Carl McHugh’s done well [for the first goal], and we were all laughing out there because he is a centre half! But he is a good, ball-playing centre half, and it came off today.

“Obviously Tareiq’s played a good ball [for the second], then I’ve got to do my bit. I’ve had a bit of good fortune, which I felt as if I deserved after the bad luck that came in the Oxford opportunity when it came off the bar and post.

“Thankfully that went in for me, and it set the tone for a massive win for us.

“It’s now effectively a mini-league of around five teams, really. There’s Exeter, then Northampton who won today, Newport and Stevenage. Anyone with any sense would see that those are the teams we are competing against, so we’re probably looking out for their results.

“I think we have just got to win as many games as possible and try to put ourselves in there.”

The Pilgrims will be looking to take control of that mini-league over the Easter weekend, as they contest two huge games against league leaders Burton Albion and Dockyard Derby rivals Portsmouth.

Results from those fixtures and five more to follow will determine if Argyle get the chance to achieve promotion via the playoffs – an objective Reuben has seen as the bare minimum since the very beginning of the campaign.

“Now we go into next weekend with two massive games in the space of four days,” said Reuben, “including probably my favourite game of the season that you can be involved in with the Pompey game, going up to their place.

“The following we will have – and with it being on a bank holiday – will make it a massive event, for sure.

“I’ve always been confident from the off-set, even at times that we were not playing so well. The disappointing thing is that it could have been a lot better. I don’t think there’s too much between the teams [at the top], really.

“There’s still 21 points to play for, so who knows what could happen from here?”